Jump to content

Help:Introduction to editing with Wiki Markup/notability quiz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Editing pages
Activate editing mode

Formatting
Keeping it tidy

Wikilinks
Connect pages to each other

Saving your changes
Publishing

Creating new articles
Building a page from scratch

Summary
Review of what you've learned



Imagine that a draft article on Acme Inc. cites four sources: a single-sentence mention in an article by The New York Times while pointing out a missing feature in a rival's product when compared to the product by Acme; an extensive company profile in a Forbes.com blog by a non-staff contributor; a blog post by a tech enthusiast who has provided a review of the product; and a court filing by a competitor alleging patent infringement.

Does the draft article demonstrate Acme's notability under Wikipedia's general notability guideline?

Answer

No, it does not. In order to count toward notability, each source must constitute significant coverage in an independent, reliable secondary source.

  • The New York Times article is reliable, independent, and secondary – but not significant (a single-sentence mention in an article about another company).
  • The Forbes blog profile is significant and secondary – but not independent or reliable (most such posts are company-sponsored or based on a company's marketing materials - see WP:FORBESCON).
  • The tech blog review is significant and secondary – but may not be independent (blog posts are often sponsored) and is not reliable (self-published sources are generally not reliable, unless they are written by subject-matter experts).
  • The court filing is significant and reliable (in that the court record is a verified account of a legal action being taken) – but not secondary (court filings are primary sources) or independent (they are written by the parties to the legal action, which have a vested interest in the outcome).
Therefore, the article does not have a single source that could be used to establish the notability of the company, let alone multiple sources.